


Chimera's First Christmas - A Thiam Secret Santa Fic

by thiamislife_thiamislove



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Santa Theo, Thiam Christmas, Thiam Secret Santa, thiamsanta2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 03:27:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13138110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiamislife_thiamislove/pseuds/thiamislife_thiamislove
Summary: It's a Thiam Secret Santa fic for @Lizzielizzie12 !!!It's Theo and Liam's first Christmas together, and Liam wants it to be absolutely perfect! However, Theo is making that a bit more of a challenge than Liam expected.Merry Christmas!





	Chimera's First Christmas - A Thiam Secret Santa Fic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizzielizzie12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizzielizzie12/gifts).



Christmas was always a hectic time of year in the Dunbar-Geyer household. Liam’s parents had invited much of the extended family to stay with them over the holidays, and while Theo had been contentedly staying in the guest room ever since the final battle with the Anuk-Ite ; with all of these extra bodies, Dr. and Mrs. Geyer had asked Theo to move in with Liam to make room for their guests. Both boys pretended to begrudgingly agree to the plan; but in all actuality Theo had been sneaking into Liam’s room (and bed) regularly for the last few months. Liam _loved_ Christmas, he always went all out!  Decorations, hot chocolate, lights, Santa; if it dealt with Christmas, Liam had to have a part in it. Theo on the other hand. . .

Theo was proving to be a really challenging boyfriend to have for Christmas. Liam gave him a free pass for not understanding many of the holiday traditions, on account of his being raised by the Dread Doctors; but part of him really wished Theo would be as into Christmas as he was. It was their first Christmas together, and Liam wanted it to be something special, but Theo was being unapologetically Theo

First they had tried building snowmen the week before. Liam had taken great care in rolling his tiny snowball into a great snow boulder for the base of his snowman. He even had brought out his freshman year lacrosse stick and jersey for it. Taking a moment to step back and look at his snowman lacrosse player, he called out to Theo “See, that’s a good snowman!” he exclaimed proudly. He heard a slight snicker from around the house, and went over to investigate. There, seemingly clawing its way up from the ground of their side-yard was a perfectly rendered, life-sized snow-carving of the Beast of Gévaudan. “Theo!!!” Liam shouted. “What?” the chimera replied back innocently. “That’s not a snowman, that’s a nightmare!” Liam chided. “It looks more realistic than yours” Theo shot back. “That’s not the point!” Liam growled, “It’s supposed to be fun and light, not scary” he added. “Whatever” Theo muttered walking back inside.

Then there was the Christmas tree incident. . .

Liam didn’t even try to bring Theo along when the rest of the family had decided to go out on their annual expedition to select the perfect Christmas tree. Dr. Geyer had attempted one year to convince the family to try going with an artificial tree instead; but the combined puppy eyes and pleading of Liam and his mom had relegated that idea to the waste-bin almost as soon as the words left Dr. Geyer’s mouth. Liam LOVED the fresh pine smell of a real live Christmas tree!

The family had finished bringing the tree into the living room of the house and had decided to take a break after a long afternoon spent at the tree lot. Liam was standing there in front of it, admiring the pretty green and taking in the wonderful fresh smell of the pine, when he heard Theo make his way down the stairs and approach him from behind.

“Why’d you cut down a tree and bring it into the house? It’s just going to die” the chimera puzzled, looking confused

“Because it’s Christmas! It wouldn’t be the same without it!” Liam turned to the older boy

Theo just continued to stare at the tree, head cocked slightly to side as if he was lost deep in thought

“Besides, we usually put some water under it, so that it doesn’t dry out too fast” Liam further explained

Theo just shook his head and walked away. Grabbing his coat, and patting his pocket to confirm he still had his keys with him, he stepped out the front door.

“Wait, where are you going?” Liam asked confused

“Out” was the only response he received from Theo

45 minutes later Liam walked back into the living room to find Theo fiddling under the tree with some metal hoses and some steampunk looking pump filled with a weird iridescent green fluid.

“What is. . . _that_?” Liam asked raising an eyebrow and pointing towards the contraption Theo had set-up beneath the tree.

“Just some things I scavenged from the Dread Doctor’s lab; should keep the tree alive and green for _years_ ” the chimera said, taking great pride in his work

Before Liam could voice his concern that using things left behind by the Dread Doctors might not be the best idea, and/or “how do you know that it won’t make this thing come alive and try to kill all of us in our sleep?”, Liam’s mother walked into the room. Seeing Theo working under the tree she said to him “Oh Theo dear, thanks so much for helping out; it’s so nice to see you getting in the holiday spirit!”, then she turned and called into the kitchen “Everyone, come in here! Theo’s already gotten started on getting the tree ready!”

All Liam could do was place his face in the palm of his hand as he listened to Theo explain to his stepfather and other family members about the “advanced biological hydroponic system” he had installed for the tree, while they lavished him with praise for coming up with such a clever idea.

Liam had about had it, “Alright, enough about Theo” he started, “Let’s start decorating the tree!” he called out. The other members of the family moved to bring out the boxes of lights, ornaments, tinsel, and other Christmas decorations while Liam started to organize them like an overly excited puppy.

Theo looked on at the scene unfolding before him, that now familiar confused expression returning to his face as he observed  Liam pull out a strand of multi-colored lights and proceed to test them; the younger boy’s face filling with joy when they all fully lit up.

Liam caught his look, and rolled his eyes. “What? Don’t tell me you have some ‘secret-Dread-Doctor-Christmas-tree-decorations’ stashed somewhere” he said just low enough under his breath that only Theo could hear.

Theo shook his head, “I just don’t understand why you go through the effort to put all these ‘decorations’ on a perfectly good tree?” he asked

“BECAUSE IT’S PRETTY AND THAT’S WHAT WE DO TO THINGS WE THINK ARE PRETTY THIS TIME OF YEAR! WE PUT TINSEL, AND GARLAND, AND ORNAMENTS, AND MORE LIGHTS THAN GOD ON THEM BECAUSE IT’S FUCKING CHRISTMAS!” Liam burst out, much to the shock of everyone in the room.

Theo just continued his confused expression, eyes a bit wider, and then turned around and began making his way upstairs while muttering something about “being an atheist”.

Sensing the incredibly awkward unresolved tension in room, pretty much everyone except Liam’s mom went into the kitchen to “go help with something else”.

“Liam Eugene. . .” his mother started with one eyebrow raised and also making full use of her “mom” voice.

Liam looked over at her, face still slightly red from his outburst. He started to mouth “what” but the knowing glance from his mother stopped the words from escaping. The dreaded middle name. . .

Liam’s mom looked over at her son, his head down and a single tear falling from his cheek. “He’s just trying to help in his own way sweetie” she tried. “I know, I just wish he felt the same way I do” he sighed, “about Christmas that is” he added quickly.

“Have you told him that?” his mother asked knowingly

“No. . .” Liam muttered, still engaged in a staring contest with his reindeer Christmas socks.

She slowly rested one hand on her son’s shoulder, “it can’t be easy for him dear, you said he lost all of his family after all and that they never really had any Christmas traditions to begin with”

“Something like that” Liam replied

“Maybe you two should just try to start one or two of your own _new_ traditions? That might be a little less overwhelming for him?” she suggested

Liam looked up at her, finally starting to smile again, and nodded. “Thanks, mom”

She kissed him on the forehead, “just give him some time sweetie, he’s been through a lot” she added before heading back into the kitchen to rejoin the rest of the family.

By now it was pretty late; Theo still had yet to emerge from their shared room, and Liam and the rest of the family had finished putting up all of the lights and decorations. Liam sleepily climbed his way up the stairs and made it to his bedroom. He looked over to the sleeping bag that his stepfather had dug out for Theo, to see the older boy buried down into it, with his back facing the rest of the bedroom, seemingly sound asleep. “Theo . . ?” Liam started, but he heard no change in the chimera’s heartbeat, so he just climbed into his own bed. Liam didn’t even bother changing into his pajamas, being so completely exhausted after the day’s events he pretty much fell into a coma once his back hit the blankets on top of his mattress.

Theo silently counted to one hundred before quietly crawling out the sleeping bag; he then uncovered the boxes he had bought while everyone was busy decorating earlier in the day.

The next morning Liam woke up, feeling well rested. The young beta went to stretch his arms to yawn, but found he couldn’t move them. Like at all. He slowly blinked his eyes open, the room still slightly dark from the belated sunrise; then he heard the patter of feet running over to the switch that controlled the outlet in his room. All of a sudden there was a blinding light. More accurately it wasn’t just one blinding light, rather it seemed like a million separate twinkling multi-color lights going off all at once throughout the room. After the initial blindness had passed, Liam saw Theo grinning stupidly across the room, leaning against the wall. Liam then looked down to see what was restraining him; apparently at some point in the night the chimera had managed to completely wrap the beta in what appeared to be 1,000 Christmas lights. As if that wasn’t enough, around his waist, neck, and ankles were tied shiny, sparkly, silvery garland that glittered in the glow of the multi-color lights. Then he noticed the tinsel so delicately placed all over his face, crotch, and nipples. . .

“THEO!!!” Liam shouted at the boy across the room

 “What?” Theo asked, perfectly innocently

“Would you mind telling me why you felt the need to tie me up in Christmas decorations while I was sleeping?!” Liam growled

“Because ‘that’s what we do to things we think are pretty this time of year’?” Theo replied, recalling Liam’s quote from the other day

Liam just looked at the other boy. Any trace of anger within him quickly melted at that last comment from Theo. Liam just blushed and started laughing. Theo looked over and just smiled.

“So, uh, you want to untie me now?” Liam asked, with a slight laugh

Theo cocked one eyebrow and smirked, “Do I have to?” he cooed

“THEO!!” Liam shouted back

“Alright, alright” the chimera conceded raising his hands up.

Eventually Theo helped untangle his little Liam Christmas tree, though not before a rather intense “tinsel fight”.

 Both boys got dressed and then started to head downstairs for breakfast, strands of leftover tinsel strewn throughout their hair.

Somewhat encouraged by Theo’s roundabout interest in Christmas decorating, Liam eventually convinced him to go Christmas shopping with him. It would just be the two of them, spending much of the day at the Beacon Hills Mall.

They both piled into Theo’s truck and took off. Liam knew it would be busy, since it was the 23rd of December after all. It took well over an hour for Theo to find a parking spot; finally setting the vehicle in park, Theo took the key out of the ignition and unlocked the door. As the two boys walked towards the entrance Theo looked over to Liam and asked, “Alright, so you have a list of everything we need to get?”

Liam looked back at him puzzled, “no?”

“Then how do you know what you need to buy?” Theo asked again

“Have you never been Christmas shopping? You just know the perfect gift when you see it!” Liam cheerfully explained

“Seems like a list would be more efficient” Theo grumbled

“C’mon, you’ll see, it’s fun!” Liam said, walking as fast as he could to get inside

Once they stepped inside Theo watched as Liam looked about in awe. The interior of the shopping mall was covered in every possible place with greenery, trees, lights, ornaments, choirs singing Christmas songs; you name it, if it was Christmas related, it was there. Liam didn’t even think about doing it, he just reached his hand down and grabbed Theo’s as he started to pull the chimera across the store, walking through the Christmassy wonderland.

After about an hour of being dragged from store to store, Liam suddenly gasped. “What’s wrong?” Theo looked over to the boy beside him. Liam just pointed towards the center of the mall. Theo looked to where Liam was pointing; he saw two massive candy canes forming an arch over a massive red throne sort of chair where a man in a red suit was seated. There was a line of people waiting in front of the strange red bearded man; to the right of the scene was a sign “Get Your Picture Taken With Santa!”.

Theo rolled his eyes “No” was all he said

“Pppleeeeeaaassseeee?” Liam pleaded.

Theo looked down, those impossibly blue eyes in full-on sad puppy mode were _impossible_ for anyone to resist. “Fine” he sighed rolling his eyes.

Liam squealed with glee, and began eagerly dragging his reluctant boyfriend in the direction of the mall Santa.

After 20 minutes of standing in line it was finally Liam’s turn. He eagerly stepped up towards the red-suited Santa, “aren’t you a little _old_ for this?” Theo teased under his breath. Liam just ignored him.

“Ho Ho Ho! You’re a little big to be sitting in Santa’s lap!” the fat bearded man in front of Liam said in a jolly tone. The young beta’s eyes widened a little, before he saw the mall Santa look down over his golden spectacles and produce a heart-warming smile, “but I suppose I can make an exception for you . . .Liam” the older man smiled.

Liam just looked on in awe, his mouth slightly agape, “how, how did you kn-?” Liam started to ask before Theo interrupted, “You had to give them your credit card information beforehand, _remember_?” the chimera muttered rolling his eyes.

Liam climbed onto the Santa’s lap, while Theo walked over to the side and began to argue with one of the “elves”.

“If you were a _real_ elf you wouldn’t be able to survive the arctic climate. Elves originated from deciduous forest regions around central Europe. Also you’d be shorter” the chimera continued rattling on about Elven biology from what he had learned during his stay with the Dread Doctors.

Liam meanwhile was still just taking everything in. “And what would _you_ like for Christmas this year, Liam?”

Liam thought for a moment, he looked around at all the happy couples going about in the mall; an elderly couple just sitting by a fountain gently holding each other’s hands, two high school aged kids kissing under some mistletoe; but his eyes lingered on the two guys (probably about 5-8 years older than he was) that had just left the Santa picture area with their son, barely old enough to walk, holding onto one hand of each parent. He didn’t know exactly why, but he suddenly felt really sad inside, maybe sad wasn’t the right word, _longing_ felt more accurate.

“Ah” the Santa said knowingly; Liam looked up at him.

“Sadly, I can’t do much for matters of the heart” the Santa conceded, “but I have a good feeling he’ll come around” he smiled down at the boy

Liam nodded and gave a small smile back

“Are you sure there’s nothing else I can give the best beta in Beacon Hills?” the Santa added in a hushed voice

Liam looked at him startled “Wha-. . .uh. . ho-?”

Suddenly one of the elves stepped up, clearly having run out of patience dealing with Theo, “Okay, let’s get a picture with the happy couple!” he said giving Theo a gentle shove next to Liam and the Santa.

The flash of the camera caught both boys by surprise. Sure it wasn’t the most romantic photo, Theo looking startled, and Liam looking like he was feeling completely exposed, both of their mouths hanging open; but it was a photo of the two of them on their first Christmas. Liam tucked the admittedly less-than-photogenic picture of the two of them into his breast pocket, as they walked out towards the exit.

“Was that really worth $20?” Theo asked, intending it to be rhetorical

“He knew I was a beta. . .how could he have known that?” Liam pondered

“Gee Liam, it’s not like ¼ of this town is some kind of supernatural, for all you know he could have been some pervy omega who wanted to take you out for candy and puppies in the back of his windowless ‘sleigh’” Theo replied snarkily

Liam just shook his head, “whatever, let’s get back home”

“Don’t have to tell me twice” Theo admitted.

They both made it back to the Dunbar-Geyer house. Liam flew up the stairs trying his hardest to make sure nobody would see any of the purchases he had made. Theo looked at the stairs and just groaned at the prospect of even _more_ walking. Liam carefully wrapped and hid his gifts under his bed. He felt in his breast pocket for the photo of himself and Theo. Pulling it out; he looked at it and laughed a little. It really _was_ a terrible photo; but it was a Christmas photo of the two of them. Liam tucked it away under his pillow.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and the annual family tradition of spending the day ice-skating was once again upon Liam. This year however it was a bullet Liam had been able to successfully dodge by convincing his parents that he needed to stay home to work on his AP History project that was due right after break. Don’t get him wrong, Liam liked spending time with his family, but after spending the better part of a week cooped up in a house filled with so many people, the poor little beta desperately needed a little quiet. Though the two secret lovers were rooming together to save space, with all of the people constantly in the house they hadn’t really had any time to be, well, lovers really.

Naturally Theo was also disinterested in the prospect of ice-skating, but thankfully Mrs. Geyer was never very pushy with the chimera.  Theo had said he was “going out”, so the younger boy thought he finally had the house to himself.

After Theo had left, it had taken almost an hour for the rest of the family to clear out; his mother of course came upstairs just to “double-check” that he really wasn’t going with them this year. Eventually though everyone had left, and now Liam had decided it was safe to take advantage of this rare opportunity for some quality alone time. A teenage beta has needs after all, and between not being able to fool around with Theo, and having a full house at almost all hours of the day and night, poor Liam was rather “frustrated”. 

Sitting down in his desk chair, he turned on his computer and pulled up his favorite website. Even though he was the only one in the house, and hadn’t felt the need to close the door; he was still self-conscious enough that he made sure to wear his high-end noise cancelling headphones, so that nothing would interrupt his long overdue self-love session. What this meant in reality though was that Liam was completely unable to hear Theo open the door to the house, and was certainly not able to hear the chimera enter the bedroom. . .

\-------

Theo was on a mission. He wasn’t sure what it was about seeing Liam sitting on the lap of that mall Santa, but something about it irked him. If Liam felt the need to turn to some sketchy, pervy, red suited, bearded, fat-man as the only way to get his Christmas jollies off. . .well Theo was going to show his precious beta that he could more than top that.

Theo got out of his truck and walked into the adult store on the highway exit ramp. “Of course this place would still be open on Christmas Eve” he chuckled to himself. Strolling inside he walked up to the lady at the counter.

“Can I help you?” she asked

“Yeah, I’m looking to _really_ get my boyfriend in the Christmas mood, if you know what I mean” Theo replied confidently

“Oh, honey I know _just_ the thing” She walked into the back room. When she emerged a few minutes later she had managed to come up with a St. Nick stripper outfit. She explained how each piece could be pulled off with the greatest ease.

Theo looked it over for a few seconds, “Hmm, that’s in the right direction; but do you have anything _sluttier_?”

The lady behind the counter grinned, and returned with a second outfit; this one much skimpier, and possessing all of the qualities the chimera had requested. “Perfect!” he replied

“Your boyfriend is one lucky man” she teased back, smiling. “Merry Christmas” she added after Theo had paid and started to leave.

He quickly arrived at the Dunbar-Geyer house and made his way up the stairs. He took a quick peak in Liam’s room. The beta was still there, back turned to the door, headphones over his ears, and hand furiously making unholy motions and sounds in front of him. “Perfect” Theo grinned to himself, before quickly changing in the bathroom down the hall.

\-------

Liam was completely engrossed in the porn he was watching, he felt like this had been building for _weeks_ , and now he was so close on the edge of release.

Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. Panic mode set in, Liam frantically shut the screen on his laptop, yanked off his headphones, and spun around while trying to pull up his pants. As he turned in his chair, there before him stood Theo. Except this Theo was a little different. This Theo was wearing a Santa hat, and an unbuttoned sleeveless Santa coat with nothing underneath. This Theo was wearing impossibly short, red spandex shorts, which like the Grinch’s heart were two sizes too small. This Theo had a black leather belt around his waist, and a mischievous grin just dripping with sin.

 “W-w-what are you doing here?!” Liam asked confused and still panicking. “Why are you dressed as Santa?”

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk” Santa Theo said shaking his head from side to side at the boy in the chair. “You should know better than that Liam. Santa only brings presents to _good_ boys” Theo teased the last two words, “I’m here because you’ve been a _naughty boy_ lately” Theo’s eyes flashed and he chopped his fangs together in an unholy clack. Liam whimpered.

“Santa leaves bad boys lumps of coal, but don’t you worry naughty little beta; Santa Theo still has a package for you” Theo smirked while moving his hand over the outline of his “package”. Liam gulped.

“Be a _good boy_ and get on the bed!” Theo commanded. Liam did as he was told, leaving his pants to fall off around his ankles, and tossing his shirt to the side as he knelt down on the bed.

“Mmm, you know your place; maybe I can make a _good boy_ out you after all?” Theo teased. Liam just whined in anticipation. He heard Theo walk towards him, he could feel the body heat from the chimera, but he _longed_ for that touch. That touch that sent sparks flying every time their bodies collided, that touch he had been deprived of for so many days!

The stripped off everything except for the Santa hat, he then proceeded to take the top off of the bottle of candy cane flavored lube the sales lady had thrown in, and massage it down his member. Bringing two fingers up to his nose, he inhaled the strong peppermint scent greedily. “Oh I think you’re really going to like this” Theo teased again. Liam’s mind raced with questions. The next thing he knew there was Theo’s cock bobbing in front of his face, coated in a slick layer of lube. “You’ve been such a _good boy,_ knowing your place, and not touching yourself. . .” Theo trailed off, “yes, I think you deserve a little treat” he chuckled, keeping his cock just teasingly out of reach of poor Liam. “Would you like to try _my_ candy cane?” Theo asked lustfully, “mmmhmm” Liam nodded while biting his lower lip.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you” the older boy teased again, “Yes please!” Liam tried his best. “Well I think you can have a little taste” Theo agreed as he slowly moved his body closer to Liam’s face. Theo just barely let Liam take the tip of his cock into his mouth. Liam swirled his tongue around, greedily enjoying the peppermint flavor of the lube mixing with the musk of Theo’s scent. “You like that?” Theo said, breathless and full of lust

“MMhmm” Liam tried to get out. Theo pulled out of Liam’s mouth. “Fuck me!” Liam gasped, in awe of the amazing taste. “Oh don’t worry, that’s coming up next” Theo teased.

Theo leaned down and shared a rough kiss with Liam, enjoying his own taste on the younger boy’s lips. Pulling away, he cupped his hand under Liam’s chin and lifted his head up to make eye contact, “you ready?” he asked. Liam nodded and smiled. “Such a good boy” Theo teased.

Theo moved around behind Liam and liberally applied a large dollop of the candy cane flavored lube to both his own penis, and well as gently massaging it onto Liam’s eager hole. Liam enjoyed the tingling sensation the peppermint oil in the lube created on his ass. Theo lined himself up to Liam’s entrance and slowly began to slide himself inside.

Liam started to reach down to touch his own raging hard-on, but Theo was quick to swat the beta’s hands away. “Aww, and here you were doing so good!” he teased. “Don’t worry, Santa Theo is still going to give you his package” he groaned as he slid much further into Liam than before. Liam almost lost it when Theo hit “the spot”. The blinking Christmas lights in his room started to blend together into colorful stars in his eyes every time Theo thrust back in, each time harder than the last.

Both boys were almost at the edge; Liam was about to lose all sense of control, and was already reduced to incoherent babbling in-between ecstacitic moans. Theo had begun to stroke Liam in time with his own thrusts, and now with the beta so close, his ass was tighter than ever. After one final thrust both boys came simultaneously, collapsing into each other’s arms, and basking in the afterglow smell of sweat, lust, and peppermint. 

As if fate was playing some kind of joke on the two lovers, at that very moment Liam’s phone started going off. Scott. “Oh shit! I forgot we were supposed to have a video call with Scott and the rest of the pack on Christmas Eve!” Liam started to panic, quickly throwing on his discarded shirt, and dropping his phone no less than three times before finally answering.

Theo just sat there on his back, still only wearing his Santa hat, and smiled watching as Liam walked across the room to take the call. “H-Hey Scott! Merry Christmas!” Liam said answering the call

“Merry Christmas Liam! Everything okay, you look a little red?” his alpha said with a touch of concern

“Uh, everything’s fine!” Liam tried

“I’m okay too!” Theo called out from across the room

“Wait, Theo’s with you?” Scott asked

Theo came up behind Liam and waved into the camera on the phone

“Why is he wearing a Santa hat?” Malia asked

“Because I’m Santa!” Theo grinned with a less than innocent smirk

“Then where’s your shirt?” Stiles sassed back “What, did  you lose it coming down Liam’s chimney?” he added laughing

Liam started blushing furiously, Theo just looked over at the embarrassed beta, “You _could_ say that” he replied, lips curling up on the ends

“Oh my God, I think I’m going to throw up” Stiles said suddenly realizing his accidental double entendre, and making nauseous sounds

“Hey, candy cane flavored lube guys; don’t knock it till you try it!” Theo added with a wink.

“Uh I think we’ll let you guys get back to whatever it was you were doing” Scott stammered awkwardly

“Merry Christmas!” Liam threw in at the last second before the call disconnected.

At that moment the two boys in the room collapsed onto the bed laughing at what had just happened.

This was _soo_ much better than ice skating!

\-------

After a full day of ice skating, everyone had called it another early night. Liam and Theo, given their prior activities, were no exception. Liam took the bed, and Theo once again resumed his place in the sleeping bag on the floor for the evening. Sharing a bed made it almost impossible to keep their hands off each other, especially after an afternoon adventure like that. Also, with so many extra sets of ears in the house, it was better to play it safe, even if it hurt to be apart.

Theo lay there, his skimpy briefs leaving _nothing_ to Liam’s imagination (Liam had begged him to wear the Santa stripper outfit to bed, but Theo found it was actually pretty uncomfortable after long periods of time). Liam was on his back on his bed, wearing his favorite Christmas pajamas, looking up at the ceiling, one hand on his chest, the other looking at the photo from the previous day in the dim glow of the few lights they had decided to leave up in the room.

“Theo?” Liam asked

“Mmm?” the chimera replied sleepily

“You remember that one couple that was before us at the mall the other day?”

“The one with the young kid?” Theo asked, still partially asleep

“Yeah” Liam confirmed

“What about them?” Theo replied, not sure where this was going

“Do you think we’ll ever have that one day?” Liam mused

“Have what? Another photo-op with a mall Santa?” Theo snarked back, really just wanting to go back to sleep

“No, a kid; maybe a son. You know, a _family_?” Liam asked again

“Maybe” Theo scoffed before turning to face the window so his back was to the beta

“I’d really like that y’know?” Liam said almost dreamily

“Goodnight Liam” Theo replied in an annoyed tone. Liam placed the picture back under his pillow and rolled onto his side, before hitting the switch near his nightstand to turn off the lights.

 

\-------

It was 2:30 in the morning when Liam rolled over awake in bed, hearing what sounded like sobbing coming from across the room. Liam had been living with Theo Raeken long enough to recognize one of his nightmares when he heard it; the kind of pure terror where the other boy wasn’t sure if he was awake or dreaming. But over the last few months they had become increasingly less frequent, almost rare even. They had both accepted the fact that they were each other’s anchors, and the more time Theo and Liam spent together, the less severe the occasional nightmare that managed to slip through seemed to be.

This however was a 100% original strength Theo night terror; and honestly Liam didn’t think he had ever heard one this bad before. Swinging his legs out of the bed he made his way over to where the older boy was. Theo was huddled in the corner, body bathed in the moonlight falling in through the window, knees clutched to his chest and rocking back and forth. Liam noticed his claws were digging into his body, drawing blood; and that his heartbeat was the fastest he had ever heard. He moved his hand to wipe the tears that were streaming down the other boy’s cheeks. Theo immediately recoiled, “No! Take me! Don’t hurt them!!” he growled, “Please, just take me instead. Do whatever you want, I _deserve_ it! Just please don’t hurt them!” he sobbed, sounding as if he was pleading with some malevolent deity. “Tara”, Liam immediately realized. “Theo, Theo, wake up, you’re having a dream!” Liam tried to call out to Theo. 

Seeing that Theo was still in the thick of it, Liam wrapped himself around the other boy; he grabbed Theo’s wrist in an effort to siphon some of the pain and fear, while he also whispered softly into the chimera’s ear “Shhh, it’s okay, you’re here now”

Suddenly Liam felt Theo jerk up. Theo’s eyes opened, bright golden yellow, his breathing was still fast. Liam squeezed him tighter; “Theo, it’s me!” he called out to him.

“Liam?” Theo asked, sounding surprised, as if unsure of where he was. “I’m here” he whispered softly into Theo’s ear. Theo was dripping with sweat, and his face was covered in tears. Theo just leaned into Liam’s shoulder, taking in his calming scent until his breathing returned to a somewhat normal pace. Liam looked down into Theo’s eyes; he could only imagine what kind of trauma had been playing through in the poor boy’s head. “Was it . . .her again?” Liam asked. Theo just nodded. “Was it like the others?” Liam tried again, being ever so careful not to push too far. Theo shook his head from side to side. “Do you want to talk about it?” Liam tried again. Theo looked up at Liam again, abject terror permeating his eyes.

“She. . .Tara” Theo started “She was there, but we weren’t at the hospital. I kept begging for her to take me instead, but she wouldn’t listen!” Theo started to tear up again.

“Who else was with you?” Liam asked delicately

“You were there and. . .and we had a son” Theo paused, trying to lodge the lump in his throat preventing the words from leaving. “We had a son?” Liam said, trying to divert Theo’s attention from his sister. Theo nodded, and started to smile, “yeah, his name was Leo.” For a brief second the hope had returned to Theo’s eyes, before he promptly fell back into horror. “She would come for me! She just kept calling and calling ‘Theoooo! Theeoooo!’ ” he began again “Only then she would go for you and Leo! She kept saying that I had given her heart to you two, and she wanted it back since it wasn’t mine to give! I tried, I begged for her to take me instead, but she just. .” Theo broke down sobbing again.

“It’s okay Theo, she’s not here, I’m here, and I know you wouldn’t let anything happen to me, and especially our family!” Liam tried to reassure him. “She said I could never be a good father, that I helped murder our parents, that I couldn’t. . . didn’t deserve. . .” Theo trailed off again. Liam didn’t know what to say. He hugged Theo tighter and then with his most serious tone of voice tried once more

“Theodore Raeken, you would be an _amazing_ father! Certainly a lot better than my birth-father! You’ve changed, you care about others now! You’ve risked your life to save me more times than I can count! If you were willing to charge headfirst into a hallway full of Ghost Riders, then there’s no way you’d ever let _anything_ happen to our son! Tara might not believe in you, but she’s not here; I am! She’s wrong about you, wrong about your heart. You don’t have her heart anymore; you have my heart! You’ve had my heart for longer than either of us would care to admit, but that doesn’t make it any less true!” Liam finished, his cheeks red, and heart beating strong

 

Theo looked up at him and sniffed “You. .. you really mean that?” he asked, eyes wide in disbelief

 

“Of course I mean that! I love you, even if you make celebrating Christmas a challenge sometimes” Liam said with a slight laugh on the end, cupping Theo’s cheek in his hand.

 

Theo smiled back up at Liam, “Hey, you have to admit it, my snowbeast was pretty kick-ass” he joked back

 

Liam just rolled his eyes and smiled back at Theo. Standing up, he pulled the chimera up with him and tugged at his arm, dragging him back towards the bed. “Come on, I think we can get away with one night” Liam winked

 

Theo grinned appreciatively and followed Liam onto the bed. The two boys snuggled up to each other. Whenever Theo had nightmares (as much as he would never admit it), he always liked letting Liam be the big spoon. The warm embrace of his little wolf, wrapping around his whole body, was enough for him to calm down and feel safe again. Turning to look at the chimera, Liam gave him a quick kiss on the lips, before settling back down.

 

“Merry Christmas Theo!” he whispered

“Merry Christmas baby wolf!” Theo whispered back.


End file.
